Author: $tingy Sailor

Skipper of The $tingy Sailor blog
Cockpit/stern4 Comments

DIY Rail Mounts for Your Portable BBQ Grill

$tingy Sailor

It amazes me how expensive boat grills and their accessories are. Of all the boating gear, they are the boat jewelry: glittering polished stainless steel grills, covers, and ridiculously priced mounting hardware for every conceivable configuration. But they don’t make the food taste any better. It must be big money for the manufacturers, knowing how much men love to eat and love their grills to cook on.

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Cockpit/stern1 Comment

How to Replace Worn Tiller Bushings

$tingy Sailor

While I was doing my How To Repair a Rudder project, I noticed that the tiller bushings were worn and loose. At the time, I hoped they would last the season until I figured out how best to replace them. That was wishful thinking. While putting Summer Dance in the water for our last cruise, one of the bushing flanges nearly fell off in my hands. It didn’t keep us from sailing that day, but it meant I was going to have to make the repair sooner rather than later.

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Electrical, Hull3 Comments

How to Rebuild a Rotten Battery Tray

$tingy Sailor

The battery tray on Summer Dance was heavily water damaged. The nails holding the side pieces to the base had rusted away and the pieces pulled away easily by hand, leaving only the base. It was badly stained and rotted and gave off a very funky smell. Fortunately, the previous owner had installed a plastic battery box and screwed the strap anchors into the base, but it had to be replaced completely.

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Cabin3 Comments

Ergonomic Hatch Dog Knobs

$tingy Sailor

One of the first things that you learn when you step into a C-22 cabin is to watch your head. With the pop top down, there’s only a little over 4′ of headroom and you will hit your head on something every time you turn around. Every C-22 owner probably has scars on their scalp from the ends of hatch dog bolts. They protrude nearly straight down at you from right over the galley and settee, where you spend the most time!

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Trailer4 Comments
Annotated tongue extension

DIY Custom Trailer Tongue Extension

$tingy Sailor

The one thing that my new Calkins trailer lacked compared to the old Trail Rite is an extendable tongue, a necessity at some of our local ramps. The only information on the Internet that I could find about adding a tongue extension was a universal aftermarket extension. But the cost was more than I paid for the entire trailer and I still needed to install a brake system. This looked like another $tingy Sailor project!

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Trailer10 Comments

Sometimes It’s Better to Replace Your Trailer Than Repair It

$tingy Sailor

When we purchased Summer Dance, the trailer was my biggest concern. It was the original 1981 Trail Rite; well-designed, simple and strong, but it had extensive rust damage from salt water launches. I planned to replace the worst of it but part way through the project, I discovered hidden damage that tipped the scale against keeping it. You can read about the unfinished project in a separate post.

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A Quick and Easy Sliding Hatch Fix

$tingy Sailor

Like many older C-22s the sliding hatch of Summer Dance made screeching sounds when it was slid open and closed. The noise comes from the front edges of the hatch scraping on the side rails and on the cabin top. The front edges scrape because the side flanges wear thin from years of use, lose their clearance, and allow the hatch to ride lower in the side rails. The thinner they get, the more scraping and screeching. Too thin and they start cracking from the stress of weight on the hatch when standing on the hatch to handle the sails.

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Trailer Undercarriage Repair Made Easy

$tingy Sailor

When we bought Summer Dance, easily the most dangerous damage to the overall package was the trailer spring hangers. The trailer was a 1981 Trail Rite that had been used to put the boat in the salt water of Puget Sound for 30 years of its life. However, in spite of a paint job that the previous owner had brushed on to sell the boat, the frame hadn’t receive proper maintenance. Consequently, the passenger side spring hangers were about 50% corroded away, 100% in small spots. The driver side hangers weren’t quite as bad.

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CabinLeave a comment

Make Your Galley Easier to Slide

$tingy Sailor

The first mate is particular about her spaces onboard Summer Dance, one being the sleeping area, the other being the galley. I’ve not seen the underside of the galleys in other boats, but ours is bare plywood except for the key strip that slides in the slot in the top of the starboard settee. It’s a simple, crude setup that works, I suppose, even though it has a lot of friction. Also, the fiberglass underneath is pretty scratched from protruding screws and staples; staples because the staples in the original teak key strip had rusted years ago and the strip had fallen off but not been replaced.

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